Hi Peter

> Please bear in mind that I am quoting sources from 120+ years ago,

I appreciate that, but many people see such things 'in print' and then 
accept them as 'gospel'.

> My chief point is that *I doubt that* the Americans would have mounted a
> huge effort to replace the entire population of honey bees in the New World
> were it not for their perception that the Italian was a *much better bee*.
> That's all. I wasn't there, so I don't know.

Likewise I was not there, but I do wonder how much the change was 
influenced by a few 'well known' and possibly over persuasive 
individuals that were revered at the time.

There is a lot of rhetoric about bee races, but when all comes to all, 
very  few can point to an apiary of bees (yard) and backup their claim 
that they are of some race or another with any certainty or evidential 
proof.


Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net
Short FallBack M/c, Build 6.02/3.1 (stable)

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